Relax. Today’s Super Bowl won’t be another ‘Ice Bowl’

Sunday

Feb 2, 2014 at 12:01 AM

I was an 11-year-old fifth-grader on the day of the Ice Bowl.

PAT RICE

The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos will square off at 6:30 p.m. today in Super Bowl XLVIII, and it looks to be a better-than-average match-up. The Seahawks have the NFL’s best defense. The Broncos have the NFL’s best offense.Also, the Super Bowl is being played up north, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The media, in search of any story line, have buzzed about the possibility that weather could be a factor. That’s doubtful; the low is projected to be 29, and chances of precipitation are just 10 percent. All the talk about weather reminds me of the most brutal football game ever played. That was the “Ice Bowl” between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 31, 1967. That NFL championship game took place at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. I watched it from our living room at 216 Wood Ave. in Nekoosa, Wis. — about 70 miles west of Green Bay. The Packers, under legendary Coach Vince Lombardi, were the dominant team of the 1960s. They won the NFL title in 1961, 1962, 1965 and 1966, and won the first championship between the NFL and AFL. (It wasn’t called the Super Bowl until some years later.) But by late 1967 the Packers were showing their age. Quarterback Bart Starr (what a great quarterback name!) was injured much of the season. The Cowboys, on the other hand, were ascending. They had gifted quarterback Don Meredith and wide receiver Bob Hayes, the fastest man in the world. I was an 11-year-old fifth-grader on the day of the Ice Bowl. When we woke up that morning, the ground was covered with a foot of fresh snow. The thermometer nailed to the outside of the house had dipped below zero and stayed there. A thick coat of frost covered the inside of the windows of the house we rented. Late that morning my two brothers and I bundled up and went outside to play football before the game. It was so cold our hands and feet ached, and we quickly returned to the house.For the definitive account of the Ice Bowl, read the brilliant “When Pride Still Mattered,” by Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss. What I remember is that the game looked as if it were being played on an inhospitable planet. The players — and the fans who had braved the cold — exhaled large clouds of steam with every breath. Referees couldn’t use their whistles because they would freeze to their lips. Every player seemed to be in pain — and they were. At one point, CBS announcer Frank Gifford quipped, “I’m going to take a bite of my coffee.”The assumption was the brutal weather would hurt the Cowboys more than the Packers, and it looked that way on the opening drive. The Packers marched 83 yards down the field and took the lead 7-0. Then the Packers forced the Cowboys to punt, and scored again, making it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.The Cowboys went the entire second quarter without making a first down. But the Packers turned the ball over twice, and that led to 10 Dallas points, making it 14-10 at the half. The Arctic weather was taking the starch out of both teams.No one scored in the third quarter. But on the first play of the fourth quarter, Dallas completed a 50-yard trick pass and took the lead 17-14.That’s where the score remained when the Packers took over from their 32-yard line with less than five minutes remaining. So began one of the most memorable examples of toughness in professional sports history.Starr, incredibly focused considering the circumstances, completed three key passes that brought the Packers to the Dallas 11-yard line. Two runs brought the ball to the three-yard line and a first down. Two more runs led to a third-and-goal at the one-yard line. With 16 seconds remaining, Starr called the Pack’s final timeout.On the sidelines, Lombardi told Starr, “Run it, and then let’s get the hell out of here.” Starr went back to the huddle and called a wedge play, with fullback Chuck Mercein the intended carrier. Instead, Starr took the snap, tucked the ball under his arms and fell into the end zone behind a brilliant block by Jerry Kramer.The Packers won. It’s the only time I can recall seeing my father leap in the air.I have a large photo in my office of that final timeout discussion between Lombardi, Starr and famed Packers back-up quarterback Zeke Bratkowski. The photo is signed by Starr and Bratkowski along with the following: “Ice Bowl. Temperature: -14. Wind Chill: -54. Below Zero.”It won’t be that cold today in New Jersey.Rice is The News-Journal’s editor. His email is Pat.Rice@news-jrnl.com.

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